Soil Bank Program

Soil Bank Program conservation reserve For necessary expenses to carry out a conservation reserve program as authorized by subtitles B and C of the Soil Bank Act (7 U.S.C. 1831–1837 and 1802–1814), and to carry out liquidation activities for the acreage reserve program, $335,000,000: Provided, That not to exceed $18,600,000 shall be available for administrative expenses, of which not less than $14,400,000 may be transferred to the appropriation account “Local administration, section 388, Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938”: Provided further, That no part of this appropriation shall be used to enter into contracts with producers which, together with contracts already entered into, would require payments to producers (including the cost of materials and services) in excess of $375,000,000 in any calendar year, and for purposes of applying this limitation, practice payments shall be chargeable to the first year of the contract period: Provided further, That no part of these funds shall be used to enter into contracts to pay rental compensation to any individual or corporation in excess of $5,000 per annum: Provided further, That no part of these funds shall be paid on any contract which is illegal under the law due to the division of lands for the purpose of evading limits on annual payments to participants: Provided further, That clause (2) of the fourth proviso relating to annual rental payments under this head in Public Law 85–459 shall not be applicable to contracts hereafter entered into: Provided further, That (1) no part of the funds authorized for 1960 may be used to enter into annual rental contracts for a period of time or at rates or in amounts which are in excess of limitations imposed by present regulations or announcements, (2) in establishing annual rental rates for new contracts, no such rental rate shall be established in excess of the local fair rental value of the acreage offered, such fair rental value to be based upon the average annual crop production harvested from such acreage during the past five crop years including the current year, (3) in handling funds within any State, first consideration shall be given to those applicants who were not offered contracts during the 1959 sign-up due to limitation of funds, and (4) in the allocation of funds and administration thereof, the Department shall not allocate funds on any basis not in accord with the purposes as set forth in the basic law.